posted January 22, 2006 03:17 PM
This is literally, the only commercial building still standing in Mertens, Texas. The city hall is housed in the trailer next door to the right. Is this the QUEEN? It's located at 207 South Barry Street.

posted February 12, 2006 08:51 PM
I did a little google research and this is not a theater.

In 1978 the last cotton gin at Mertens closed. The railroads also ceased service to the town. In the 1980s only one brick building remained; it housed the Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star Chapter. At that time the community had a volunteer fire department, a city park, a general store, and a filling station. The population of Mertens was estimated at 104 in 1990.

posted February 13, 2006 04:48 AM
That's a little confusing. If the one remaining brick commercial building housed a masonic lodge, & the town also had a volunteer fire department, a general store, and a filling station, were those housed in frame buildings, or was the lodge upstairs at the filling station or general store?